The Iliad, Homer [big screen ebook reader .txt] 📗

of Tydeus; the bronze point pierced it and passed on
till it reached the breastplate. Thereon the son of Lycaon shouted out
and said, "You are hit clean through the belly; you will not stand out
for long, and the glory of the fight is mine."

But Diomed all undismayed made answer, "You have missed, not hit, and
before you two see the end of this matter one or other of you shall
glut tough-shielded Mars with his blood."

With this he hurled his spear, and Minerva guided it on to Pandarus's
nose near the eye. It went crashing in among his white teeth; the
bronze point cut through the root of his tongue, coming out under his
chin, and his glistening armour rang rattling round him as he fell
heavily to the ground. The horses started aside for fear, and he was
reft of life and strength.

Aeneas sprang from his chariot armed with shield and spear, fearing
lest the Achaeans should carry off the body. He bestrode it as a lion
in the pride of strength, with shield and spear before him and a cry of
battle on his lips resolute to kill the first that should dare face
him. But the son of Tydeus caught up a mighty stone, so huge and great
that as men now are it would take two to lift it; nevertheless he bore
it aloft with ease unaided, and with this he struck Aeneas on the groin
where the hip turns in the joint that is called the "cup-bone." The
stone crushed this joint, and broke both the sinews, while its jagged
edges tore away all the flesh. The hero fell on his knees, and propped
himself with his hand resting on the ground till the darkness of night
fell upon his eyes. And now Aeneas, king of men, would have perished
then and there, had not his mother, Jove's daughter Venus, who had
conceived him by Anchises when he was herding cattle, been quick to
mark, and thrown her two white arms about the body of her dear son. She
protected him by covering him with a fold of her own fair garment, lest
some Danaan should drive a spear into his breast and kill him.

Thus, then, did she bear her dear son out of the fight. But the son of
Capaneus was not unmindful of the orders that Diomed had given him. He
made his own horses fast, away from the hurly-burly, by binding the
reins to the rim of the chariot. Then he sprang upon Aeneas's horses
and drove them from the Trojan to the Achaean ranks. When he had so
done he gave them over to his chosen comrade Deipylus, whom he valued
above all others as the one who was most like-minded with himself, to
take them on to the ships. He then remounted his own chariot, seized
the reins, and drove with all speed in search of the son of Tydeus.

Now the son of Tydeus was in pursuit of the Cyprian goddess, spear in
hand, for he knew her to be feeble and not one of those goddesses that
can lord it among men in battle like Minerva or Enyo the waster of
cities, and when at last after a long chase he caught her up, he flew
at her and thrust his spear into the flesh of her delicate hand. The
point tore through the ambrosial robe which the Graces had woven for
her, and pierced the skin between her wrist and the palm of her hand,
so that the immortal blood, or ichor, that flows in the veins of the
blessed gods, came pouring from the wound; for the gods do not eat
bread nor drink wine, hence they have no blood such as ours, and are
immortal. Venus screamed aloud, and let her son fall, but Phoebus
Apollo caught him in his arms, and hid him in a cloud of darkness, lest
some Danaan should drive a spear into his breast and kill him; and
Diomed shouted out as he left her, "Daughter of Jove, leave war and
battle alone, can you not be contented with beguiling silly women? If
you meddle with fighting you will get what will make you shudder at the
very name of war."

The goddess went dazed and discomfited away, and Iris, fleet as the
wind, drew her from the throng, in pain and with her fair skin all
besmirched. She found fierce Mars waiting on the left of the battle,
with his spear and his two fleet steeds resting on a cloud; whereon she
fell on her knees before her brother and implored him to let her have
his horses. "Dear brother," she cried, "save me, and give me your
horses to take me to Olympus where the gods dwell. I am badly wounded
by a mortal, the son of Tydeus, who would now fight even with father
Jove."

Thus she spoke, and Mars gave her his gold-bedizened steeds. She
mounted the chariot sick and sorry at heart, while Iris sat beside her
and took the reins in her hand. She lashed her horses on and they flew
forward nothing loth, till in a trice they were at high Olympus, where
the gods have their dwelling. There she stayed them, unloosed them from
the chariot, and gave them their ambrosial forage; but Venus flung
herself on to the lap of her mother Dione, who threw her arms about her
and caressed her, saying, "Which of the heavenly beings has been
treating you in this way, as though you had been doing something wrong
in the face of day?"

And laughter-loving Venus answered, "Proud Diomed, the son of Tydeus,
wounded me because I was bearing my dear son Aeneas, whom I love best
of all mankind, out of the fight. The war is no longer one between
Trojans and Achaeans, for the Danaans have now taken to fighting with
the immortals."

"Bear it, my child," replied Dione, "and make the best of it. We
dwellers in Olympus have to put up with much at the hands of men, and
we lay much suffering on one another. Mars had to suffer when Otus and
Ephialtes, children of Aloeus, bound him in cruel bonds, so that he lay
thirteen months imprisoned in a vessel of bronze. Mars would have then
perished had not fair Eeriboea, stepmother to the sons of Aloeus, told
Mercury, who stole him away when he was already well-nigh worn out by
the severity of his bondage. Juno, again, suffered when the mighty son
of Amphitryon wounded her on the right breast with a three-barbed
arrow, and nothing could assuage her pain. So, also, did huge Hades,
when this same man, the son of aegis-bearing Jove, hit him with an
arrow even at the gates of hell, and hurt him badly. Thereon Hades went
to the house of Jove on great Olympus, angry and full of pain; and the
arrow in his brawny shoulder caused him great anguish till Paeeon
healed him by spreading soothing herbs on the wound, for Hades was not
of mortal mould. Daring, head-strong, evildoer who recked not of his
sin in shooting the gods that dwell in Olympus. And now Minerva has
egged this son of Tydeus on against yourself, fool that he is for not
reflecting that no man who fights with gods will live long or hear his
children prattling about his knees when he returns from battle. Let,
then, the son of Tydeus see that he does not have to fight with one who
is stronger than you are. Then shall his brave wife Aegialeia, daughter
of Adrestus, rouse her whole house from sleep, wailing for the loss of
her wedded lord, Diomed the bravest of the Achaeans."

So saying, she wiped the ichor from the wrist of her daughter with both
hands, whereon the pain left her, and her hand was healed. But Minerva
and Juno, who were looking on, began to taunt Jove with their mocking
talk, and Minerva was first to speak. "Father Jove," said she, "do not
be angry with me, but I think the Cyprian must have been persuading
some one of the Achaean women to go with the Trojans of whom she is so
very fond, and while caressing one or other of them she must have torn
her delicate hand with the gold pin of the woman's brooch."

The sire of gods and men smiled, and called golden Venus to his side.
"My child," said he, "it has not been given you to be a warrior.
Attend, henceforth, to your own delightful matrimonial duties, and
leave all this fighting to Mars and to Minerva."

Thus did they converse. But Diomed sprang upon Aeneas, though he knew
him to be in the very arms of Apollo. Not one whit did he fear the
mighty god, so set was he on killing Aeneas and stripping him of his
armour. Thrice did he spring forward with might and main to slay him,
and thrice did Apollo beat back his gleaming shield. When he was coming
on for the fourth time, as though he were a god, Apollo shouted to him
with an awful voice and said, "Take heed, son of Tydeus, and draw off;
think not to match yourself against gods, for men that walk the earth
cannot hold their own with the immortals."

The son of Tydeus then gave way for a little space, to avoid the anger
of the god, while Apollo took Aeneas out of the crowd and set him in
sacred Pergamus, where his temple stood. There, within the mighty
sanctuary, Latona and Diana healed him and made him glorious to behold,
while Apollo of the silver bow fashioned a wraith in the likeness of
Aeneas, and armed as he was. Round this the Trojans and Achaeans hacked
at the bucklers about one another's breasts, hewing each other's round
shields and light hide-covered targets. Then Phoebus Apollo said to
Mars, "Mars, Mars, bane of men, blood-stained stormer of cities, can
you not go to this man, the son of Tydeus, who would now fight even
with father Jove, and draw him out of the battle? He first went up to
the Cyprian and wounded her in the hand near her wrist, and afterwards
sprang upon me too, as though he were a god."

He then took his seat on the top of Pergamus, while murderous Mars went
about among the ranks of the Trojans, cheering them on, in the likeness
of fleet Acamas chief of the Thracians. "Sons of Priam," said he, "how
long will you let your people be thus slaughtered by the Achaeans?
Would you wait till they are at the walls of Troy? Aeneas the son of
Anchises has fallen, he whom we held in as high honour as Hector
himself. Help me, then, to rescue our brave comrade from the stress of
the fight."

With these words he put heart and soul into them all. Then Sarpedon
rebuked Hector very sternly. "Hector," said he, "where is your prowess
now? You used to say that though you had neither people nor allies you
could hold the town alone with your brothers and brothers-in-law. I see
not one of them here; they cower as hounds before a lion; it is we,
your allies, who bear the brunt of the battle. I have come from afar,
even from Lycia and the banks of the river Xanthus, where I have left
my wife, my infant son, and much wealth to tempt whoever is needy;
nevertheless, I head my Lycian soldiers and stand my ground against any
who would fight me though I have nothing here for the Achaeans to
plunder, while you look on, without even bidding your men stand firm in
defence of their wives. See that you fall not into the hands